


Just One Night

by Wholesome_Hunter (PanellaDePonce)



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Biscuit (mentioned), Fluff, Hisoka’s existence is briefly acknowledged, Kite (mentioned) - Freeform, Knuckle (mentioned), Multi, Oh wait forgot to mention, One Shot, Other, Palm (mentioned), Playing video games, Sharing a Bed, Shoot (mentioned), Sleepovers, Trans Kurapika, Watching Movies, lots of other characters are just mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-01 20:49:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19185289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PanellaDePonce/pseuds/Wholesome_Hunter
Summary: Gon tries to get all of his best friends together to have a legendary sleepover. He’s ready, he’s been planning this, and it seems no matter what anyone else has to say about it, he’s going to make sure it happens.





	Just One Night

**Author's Note:**

> I should preface this with saying that this fic started as a single sentence prompt my sister gave me, and it was supposed to be LeoPika focused, and then my hands detached from my mind and wrote a story about the family instead.
> 
> Whoops.
> 
> This is largely unedited and I proofread it maybe once. Please excuse the fact that I gave everyone really weird taste in movies. I don’t watch a lot of movies, but the sort of stuff I’ve watched at sleepovers mostly consisted of things that… weren’t exactly cinematic masterpieces.
> 
> Anyhow, enjoy the story.

It was a hotel room with two beds. Between five people, four of whom were Hunters, they certainly could afford two rooms. Hell, they could afford five rooms for each person and it would barely show up on their bank statements. Between four Hunters, there was hardly a luxury they couldn’t afford.

 

Gon, however, insisted they shared one room, because when was the last time anyone here had a proper slumber party?

 

Killua and Alluka surely haven’t had a chance for a sleepover party before, between assassin training and being locked in a room for up to 8 years. Though between their travels together, they’ve always shared a room… but that’s hardly a party.

 

Leorio’s been to parties at college, or so he says. But college parties were loud, energetic, boisterous; crowding a house far passed safety limitations, underscored by the desire to bury the dread and stress of final exams looming around the corner.

 

And Kurapika… between the oodles of bullshit this shambling mess of a man got himself into, did he even ever sleep?

 

It was something of a minor miracle that Gon not only managed to get everyone in the same city, but convinced them all to take a break and enjoy each other’s company for awhile. The hardest one to convince, was of course, Kurapika, who always insisted he was busy, needed to be somewhere else, had no time to talk, and so on. Gon, in the middle of the city sidewalk they converged at, latched on to his friend’s arm, saying that he absolutely had to stay. The insistence soon turned into full blown begging, which started to chip away at Kurapika’s will. He looked to his other friends for help, but was met with cheeky smirks.

 

Leorio promised they weren’t pressuring Kurapika into staying. But Gon had a pronounced lack of dignity and didn’t care how absurd he looked clenched around Kurapika while begging desperately enough to catch the attention of passerby’s.

 

Eventually, Kurapika gave in with a sigh saying he’d leave early in the morning. It was just one night.

 

It wasn’t until they made it to the hotel room did they realize Gon really wouldn’t have taken ‘no’ for an answer.

 

“Check it out!!” Gon bounced into the room after opening the door for them. He hurried to the TV and scooped up the tall stack of DVDs and spread them out onto the bed. There were at least 15 cases. “We probably won’t watch all of these, but we have so much to pick from, it doesn’t matter!”

 

Leorio started sifting through the eclectic collection of movies, noticing how most of them had rather worn cases. “You watched these all before?”

 

“Nope!” The boy grinned. “I have no idea what any of these are about. I called some of my other friends and asked for what kind of movies they liked and then I went out and rented them.”

 

“Rented? …does Whale Island still have Blockbusters?”

 

“Is that weird?” Gon tilted his head.

 

“Wow. Whale Island must have the last open Blockbuster in the world…” Killua marveled. “That tracks. Whale Island is like… 20 years behind the rest of the world.”

 

Gon kneeled down to the drawers and started pulling them all open. “Look at this! I also brought lots of board games in case we don’t wanna watch movies.” He started pulling box after box out of the drawer. Sorry, Monopoly, Jenga… “I’ve also got lots of card games. And a normal deck of cards in case you know any fun games for them!”

 

Unlike the DVD cases, the board game boxes were still pristine in their plastic wrapping. Gon must have bought all of these just for this party, Kurapika thought to himself.

 

Alluka joined Gon next to the drawer and started pulling out more cases. “Oh. Are these more movies?”

 

“Ah, no, those are—“

 

“Those are video games…??” Killua picked up one of the cases. Just like the board games, they were still behind their fresh from the factory plastic wrap. “Gon…” He said while peeling the plastic from the case. “Y’know these are for the latest game system, the Flip, right? I thought you just had a JoyStation… unless…” he suspiciously eyed Gon. “Did you… buy a console just for this party?”

 

Gon wordlessly reached into his bag and pulled out the game station and it’s dock, along with four controllers. As he met his best friend’s gaze of exasperation, instead of justifying his decision, he just slowly stuck his tongue out.

 

“What were you going to do with all this stuff if none of us could have stayed the night?” When Killua asked that, he noticed a change in Gon’s nonchalant expression.

 

“W-well…” He looked down at the great pile of games and movies and fidgeted with some plastic casing in his hands. “If not tonight, then maybe some day in the future, we’d all get to hang out. That way, I already have this stuff ready.”

 

Leorio imagined such a scenario, where Gon finally gets to see his dearest friends again in one place, a surprise ready for them, only for each of them to reject his plans. He thought about a despondent Gon walking back to the hotel room and packing away all the movies and games and snacks he had ready, the only thing stopping him from crying about it was the distant hope of a “next time”.

 

“Leorio,” Kurapika muttered silently. “Are you about to cry?”

 

“No,” Leorio removed his glasses and wiped a sleeve across his eyes. “I’m definitely not about to do that. I’m just thinking…” he started to increase his volume so the others, mostly Gon, can hear what he has to say. “It’s just so great that Gon went through all the effort to get us together!! Can we ask for a better pal?! I’m more than happy to stay the night with him!!”

 

The way Gon smiled back made Kurapika’s heart flutter with endearment. His smile was subtle as always, but there was still a wistful look in his eyes. “Indeed. Thank you, Gon. It’s just a shame that I have to get up at s—“

 

He stopped as he felt a nudge from Leorio, who was sternly shaking his head. His expression said “any time starting with an ‘s’ is too early for you to go.”

 

Kurapika slowly moved his eyes from Leorio back to the kids. “I have to get up a niii—“

 

Leorio gave him another nudge. This time the expression read “stop running away from your friends, you ass.”

 

He sighed with defeat. “Eleven. I have to get up at eleven tomorrow.”

 

Gon bounced giddily and jumped up from the spot he was kneeling at. Before Kurapika knew it, he was being squeezed affectionately by his small friend. “Thank you, thank you!! This is gonna be great!!” He let go and spun around so he was facing the others. “We’re gonna stay up all night!!”

 

“Easy.” Kurapika nodded.

 

“No,” Leorio patted Gon’s shoulder. “We aren’t staying up all night.”

 

“Alluka needs her rest,” Killua added, ignoring the pout from his little sister. “So we’re not staying up later than three if wake up time is eleven.”

 

“Ok, that’s fine!” Gon agreed exuberantly. “We’re gonna stay up until three and it’s going to be great!!”

 

The time on the clock was 5:34 PM.

 

—

 

If the amount of games and media Gon brought for the party wasn’t absurd enough, the amount of snacks certainly was. He used the closet like a pantry and carefully stacked bags of chips, candy, popcorn boxes, soda cases, and other such goodies. If one thing were pulled out incorrectly, it’d surely come spilling out like a tidal wave of sugar and carbs.

 

The others were huddled around the bed covered in DVDs, carefully considering which ones they should watch.

 

“This one seems pretty tame,” Kurapika picked up a case with all sorts of animal characters crowded in a cityscape. “I think it’d be a good one to start with.”

 

“That’s the one about the bunny and the fox, right?” Killua looked over at the case. “I got pretty bored with that one. It’s really predictable… must be for babies.”

 

“Oh, Knuckle recommended that one,” Gon commented, peering over Killua’s shoulder. He had several bags on unpopped popcorn in his arms. “He was very passionate about it.”

 

“My point about it being for babies still stands.” Killua teased. “There’s a lot of cartoons in here actually…”

 

“Knuckle recommended almost all of them,” Gon recalled, smiling. “Shoot teased him for liking kid’s movies, but Knuckle went on and on about how they have valuable lessons that are great to pay attention to, even when you’re grown up.”

 

“He was crying when he said this.” Killua didn’t ask this, he stated it with the utmost confidence. Gon did not deny this.

 

Alluka looked up at Leorio, who was staring at the back of one of the DVD cases. “Is that one good?”

 

“Beats me,” he shrugged. “Never watched it.”

 

“Bisky recommended that one,” Gon watched as Killua took the case from Leorio. “She said it always makes her cry.”

 

“This one’s about a boat sinking in freezing waters…” he mumbled as he skimmed over.

 

“If it’s about boats, I don’t want to watch it.” Kurapika added quickly. Leorio nodded in agreement. The two decided they had enough of boats for a lifetime after coming back from the Black Whale.

 

“Good call, looks like it wasn’t going to have any cool action… just a sappy romance movie.” He stuck his tongue out as he tossed it back into the pile. “That’s exactly the sort of thing Bisky would like, huh?”

 

Gon was standing by the microwave, keeping a close eye on the bags of popcorn, making sure not to burn any. The sound of kernels bursting now underscored their movie debate.

 

“This one has an interesting premise,” Kurapika held up a case for everyone else to see. “It’s about a man who obtains a remote control that allows him to time travel through his life.”

 

“Kurapika, hold on,” Leorio took a closer look at the case. “I never watched this one, but I know that actor’s name. Any movie he leads is terrible.”

 

Gon switched opened the microwave before it beeped, taking a still popping bag out of the chamber. “Hot, hot, hot.” He muttered as he tried to quickly put it down and exchanged it for another unpopped bag. “Palm recommended that one. She said it might seem silly at first, but the ending really drives it home. She said she was bawling at it.”

 

Leorio chuckled. “I don’t know who this Palm is, but… thinking that a movie by this guy made her seriously cry… I want to make fun of her so bad.”

 

“Ok, just make sure she never hears you,” Killua smirked. “She’d probably kill you if she knew you were dissing her.”

 

“Hmm…” Alluka was pawing through the collection as the others chatted. “Brother, what do you think of this one?”

 

“Oh! That one’s a classic. Good find, Alluka!” Killua showed the case to the others. “This one’s about an escaped murder convict who killed his sister when he was six. He goes back to his home town to find his next victims… wow, there’s a lot of good classic horrors in here. Gon, who recommended these?”

 

“Kite did,” Gon answered, as he swapped in another bag of popcorn. “He said all of the ones he gave me there are must-sees. But only if I ‘have the guts for it’.” Gon looked back at the group with a pout. “Can you believe that? Kite thinks I’d be scared of movies like these! Or maybe he was challenging me…”

 

Alluka pulled up a case that had a sinister clown with sharp claws in the upper corner. “Brother, can we watch this one?”

 

“Ooh, that’s a really good one,” Killua opened the case and popped the DVD out, examining the back to assure there wasn’t any scratches. “Well… this one can get pretty scary and graphic. If you guys are down for that.”

 

“Killua, we have seen so much,” Leorio reassured. “I think I can take it.”

 

“You’ve seen this one before Killua?” Kurapika watched Killua nod. “Since the consensus seems to be in favor of watching this, I don’t want to cause a stink. But if there’s a kind of gore you know I’m bad with can you… give a heads up?” He paused. “Also if there are spiders. Warn me if there are spiders.”

 

“I don’t think there’s any spiders… it’s been awhile since I’ve seen this one, though. I’m sure I’ll remember things as they happen, so if it starts looking bad, I’ll give you a heads up.” Killua gave a thumbs up to his friend, who nodded in thanks as a reply.

 

“Hey… is Alluka going to be okay watching something like this…?” Leorio asked quietly, hoping the girl wouldn’t hear him. “I’ve seen this one before. It gets intense, doesn’t it?”

 

“Violence doesn’t really faze her,” Killua glanced at the case thoughtfully. “…I guess I’m more concerned with the psychological aspects. This one can really get into your head.”

 

“I won’t be scared, Brother,” Alluka tugged at his arm with that wonderful smile painted on her face. “And even if I am, you’ll be right next to me! So everything’s going to be okay.”

 

Killua patted her head, returning a soft smile. “Of course! And if you don’t want to watch it anymore, we can stop. We’ve got lots of other things to do, after all.” He three an arm around his sister and hugged her against his side. “Hey Gon, are you done with the popcorn yet?”

 

Gon turned around with arms full of puffed up bags, as well as one he holding with his teeth. “Mhmm!”

 

The time on the clock was 6:03.

 

—

 

The movie was as captivating as Killua said. Most of the time, they had a hard time taking their eyes off the screen, though every now and then, Killua would give a signal to indicate things were about to get bloody. When this happened, Kurapika would bury his face in Leorio’s arm for a bit. The two were sitting closely next to each other on one of the beds. When the scene tamed down a bit, Leorio would tap Kurapika on the shoulder to say it was alright to look again.

 

What they didn’t anticipate was that Gon was having a hard time watching the movie. He’d seen dozens of horrific monsters before, but it was the turmoil it was causing the main characters that was troubling him. While Alluka was huddled up to one side of Killua, Gon squeezed to the other. Sensing how unnerved his best friend was, Killua decided it’d be best to commentate on the movie, cracking jokes to make the atmosphere a little bit more bearable.

 

Gon was appreciative, chuckling politely so as not to disturb the other watchers, but the group had a hard time keeping it in when the much maligned clown monster would come into view and Killua would proclaim. “Look out!! It’s Hisoka!!” The sudden declaration actually had Leorio laughing so hard, they had to pause the movie until he got his act together.

 

Alluka was quite pleased with the movie, but otherwise seemed totally unaffected by it. As soon as the credits started rolling, she hopped from where she was sitting and started looking for a new one. She found a few budget shark movies and asked about them. Leorio was quick to shut them down, saying they weren’t worth the two hours they wouldn’t get back. Killua inquired who would seriously recommend these and Gon explained that apparently Morel and Knov watched them ironically. The ones in the pile are the ones they considered “the great kind of bad” and unlike the rest of the movies, actually belonged to them.

 

The time on the clock was 10:12 PM when someone suggested they try some of the party games Gon bought. After all, it’d be a shame if he spent so much only for it to go untouched.

 

Killua hooked up the game console and looked through the games picked up. One was a party game, famous for it’s unusual intensity, rumored to be capable of ruining the closest of friendships. Another was a racing game with a fun cast of iconic characters. Another was a puzzle game about chain reactions mixed with a more well known puzzle game about dropping blocks and clearing lines. Finally, there was the game about dozens of characters from numerator franchises duking it out in the crossover of the decade.

 

“This one,” Killua popped the case open and held up the cartridge. Before plugging it in, he glanced at it and then at Gon. “Hey… did you know that the company who makes these games started adding flavoring to the cartridges?”

 

“Really?” He regarded curiously. “What’s it taste like?”

 

Killua passed it to Gon. “Find out.”

 

He watched with a devious smirk as Gon licked the cartridge, his face suddenly twisting from curiosity to disgust to betrayal. “Bleh! Killua! Why…?!”

 

“I never said the flavoring was good,” he chuckled while wiping the game with his shirt. “I can’t believe you licked it just because I told you to. I wonder what else I could make you do?”

 

“Killuaaaaa!” Gon whined, tongue lolling out. He scurried to the closet and took out a can of soda, chugging it to get the bitter flavor of video games out of his mouth.

 

Killua pretended to ignore his best friend’s exaggerated anguish as he booted up the game. He started handing out the controllers and paused. “There’s only four.”

 

“I’ll pass,” Kurapika held his hand up. “I’ll be happy to spectate this time.”

 

“Whaaat?” Leorio gasped. “No, you’ve gotta play. I wanna play against you!”

 

“I don’t know how to play. It won’t be a satisfying victory for you.” The serious response earned a chuckle from Killua.

 

“Nobody has to know how to play this game to have fun with it,” Leorio grunted. The other three controllers were distributed to Gon, Killua, and Alluka. “How about whoever gets last place in each fight gets to swap out?”

 

Kurapika sighed, looking at Leorio with a vexed smile. “I suppose that works out,” he looked to the kids. “Hey, make sure Leorio gets last every time.”

 

“Should be easy.” Killua opened the roster and selected his fighter, a boy with a red hat and baseball bat.

 

Gon slowly looked over the roster. He settled on the odd duo of a duck and a dog. “They look like they’d be fun to play as.”

 

Alluka quickly selected a beautiful woman with long green hair and an elegant white dress. Killua gave her a quick rundown of the controls while Leorio considered who to play as.

 

Leorio eventually settled on a short, yet determined looking boxer character, assuming someone like him would be quick to learn how to play as.

 

The time on the clock was 11:32 PM when Leorio finally admitted he was taking more defeats than he’d like.

 

—

 

“Gon, you didn’t pack anything that would work as a proper dinner, did you?” Leorio looked over the improvised pantry that was only junk food. “Did you forget that you can’t just eat a whole bag of cheesey puffs and call that a meal?”

 

“Not with that attitude, you can’t!” Killua joked, a box of chocolate cookies sitting in his lap. He enjoyed the irritated look Leorio returned.

 

“Oh.” Was all Gon could reply with.

 

Leorio sighed and pulled out a bag of salt and vinegar chips and reclaimed a seat on his bed. “Guess it’s time to eat like a college student.”

 

Killua looked over to Alluka who was looking through the pile of board games for their next activity. “Did you find anything you like?” He asked sweetly.

 

“Killua,” the change of address alerted him. His sister turned around to reveal dark black eyes and a blank smile looking back at him. She held up the Jenga box, urging it towards him. “This one, this one.”

 

“Ah, looks like Alluka switched out…”

 

“Nanika!” Gon cheered. “It’s been so long since I saw you last!”

 

Kurapika and Leorio stared at Nanika with respective levels of concern and confusion. “Alluka is a two for one special little sister, in that she shares a body with Nanika, here. She, like Alluka, is also the best, so you better be nice to her.”

 

Nanika giggled at Killua’s compliments. She held the box out towards him again. “Killua, Killua. Let’s play.”

 

“Sure thing, Nanika,” he smiled and gave her a quick pat on the head. As he opened the box, he felt a tug at his sleeve. “What’s up?”

 

“With friends,” she pointed towards Leorio and Kurapika. “I wanna play with Killua’s friends.”

 

“Uh… Sure thing, kiddo. C’mon, Kurapika.” Leorio pulled Kurapika off the bed and joined the kids on the floor in a circle.

 

Killua turned the box upside and lifted it slowly, revealing the carefully preassembled tower of blocks. “Nanika, let me show you how to play… you have to carefully push a block out from the tower and put in on top, like this.” He took a center piece out and then gestured to his sister to try next. “Your turn.”

 

“…’Kay.” Nanika reached her hand out slowly to the tower… and pushed her palm against it, knocking the tower over. The others stared in quiet amusement as she looked at the pile of blocks on the floor. Nanika clasped her hands together and smiled as cheerfully as she could manage. “Another.”

 

The time on the clock was 12:54 AM when Nanika (with Killua’s assistance) absolutely wiped the floor with everyone in UNO.

 

—

 

It wasn’t yet 3 AM, but the youngest of the group was already nodding off. Killua helped Nanika into a frilly pink night gown. His own sleepwear was pretty simple. A white tank top and shorts.

 

“Looks like it’s time to call it a night.” Killua announced quietly as he hoisted a very sleepy girl onto the bed.

 

“B-But… the night is still young! It’s not 3 AM yet!” Gon protested.

 

Killua shushed him and held a finger in front of him. “My sister wants to sleep, so sleep she shall.”

 

“If we’re sleeping earlier we can wake up earlier. We can hang out some in the morning,” Leorio consoled. “Get some breakfast. Eat real food.” Leorio looked behind himself at Kurapika, still in his day clothes, huddled up and sleep in the middle of the bed. He scooted close and pinched his cheek. “Hey, man, wake up.”

 

“Whuh…?” Kurapika’s eyes fluttered opened. He looked at the others who were already dressed for sleep, including Leorio. “What’d you wake me up for? I don’t think we’re doing anything else…”

 

“At least get changed out of your day clothes,” Leorio chided. In a quieter tone he added “Did you even take your binder off?”

 

Kurapika sighed. As always, Leorio knows best. “Excuse me, then. I’ll get changed.”

 

As Kurapika carefully navigated around the mess on the floor to get to the bathroom, Leorio threw himself onto the bed, sprawling his limbs out in every direction.

 

Gon was almost hanging on the edge of the bed, tucked in next to Killua who was lying close to his sister. “Isn’t it going to be hard for Kurapika to sleep if you’re taking up all the space?”

 

“He can figure it out,” Leorio mumbled as he put his glasses on the nightstand. “If he’s sharing a bed with me, he’s gotta work around me.”

 

“Is that so?” Kurapika’s voice caught Leorio’s attention. “Is this the real reason you had me get up?”

 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Leorio rolled his body around the bed so he was lying diagonally, taking up even more space. “I’m just getting ready for bed. Nothing unusual about—“

 

Before he was ready for it, Kurapika flopped onto the bed with little regard for where is body would land.

 

Leorio squirmed as he felt Kurapika’s weight settling on his right arm. “Okay, okay, jeez. Ouch. Get off, I’ll make room.”

 

“Hmm… no. I think this is quite comfortable,” Kurapika shuffled himself closer to Leorio, though still not getting up off of his arm. “Good night, Leorio.”

 

Leorio huffed and yanked his arm out from under him. “Do you want to cut off circulation on my arm? Sheesh.” He lifted up the blankets and made himself comfortable. Before Kurapika could do the same, Leorio tugged the rest of the blankets his way, curling up like a burrito.

 

“Oh come on, what are you doing now?” Kurapika scowled. He gripped tight to the blanket and gave it a sharp tug. Leorio still did not come unraveled.

 

“Just getting cozy.” Leorio answered. With the amount of blanket shielding him, he certainly looked cozy as a kitten.

 

“Leorio, if you insist on stealing all of the blankets I swear… I will put my cold feet on you.”

 

The threat meant nothing to Leorio. “You think you can get me? You won’t. My blanket cocoon is the ultimate shield.”

 

Kurapika sighed. With a subtle smirk, he laid down so that his feet were close to the pillow.

 

“What are you doing?” Leorio squinted. A foot was threatening to come close to his slightly exposed neck. “Wait wait, don’t.” But the wheels were already in motion. Leorio was immobilized thanks to the blanket cocoon. He couldn’t fight the fate he made for himself. Cold skin made contact with his sensitive neck and he nearly jumped. Instead, he rolled off the side of the bed with a thump.

 

“Are you ready to share like an adult, now?” Kurapika teased as Leorio peaked over the edge of the bed with a glare.

 

“When you remember how to have fun, you sure can be mean about it.” He pouted as he climbed back onto the bed and threw the blanket over the both of them. “Still, I’d take it any day. Sometimes it feels like weeks between seeing you smile. I’d hate to forget what it looks like.”

 

Kurapika pinched Leorio’s nose while burying his own reddening face under the covers. “Shut up, go to sleep.”

 

“Yeah, goodnight guys!” Gon called from the bed next to them as he reached for the lamp. He couldn’t see it, but Kurapika seemed ready to suffocate himself with beddings in embarrassment. In his playful moment with Leorio, he totally forgot that Gon was still awake.

 

The time on the clock was 1:47 AM when the lamp clicked shut.

 

—

 

It was still dark when the closing of a heavy door woke Kurapika up. He sat up slowly, carefully removing Leorio’s arm from around him. Gon was missing from the bed next to them, and so were his fuzzy frog slippers. He glanced towards the bathroom door. The lights weren’t on. Did he go out in the hallway?

 

Kurapika put on his own slippers and carefully opened the hall door, putting the stopper out so he could come back in the case he didn’t find Gon and lacked a room key.

 

Stepping out into the hallway, he couldn’t see a hint of the spiky hair boy, but from not so far down the hall, he heard the ring of the elevator. Following the sound, he found the door had already closed and that the elevator was ascending. He pushed the button to call it back.

 

…it took its time getting back, leading Kurapika to the conclusion that if it was Gon he was following, we went all the way to the top floor. The top floor had a staircase to a balcony where sometimes parties were held, but at this hour of the night it was sure to be deserted.

 

*ping!*

 

The elevator made its way back to Kurapika. He tapped the button for the top floor and leaned against the back wall as the doors closed. He didn’t really know why he was following Gon. It might seem a little odd for the boy to sneak off in the middle of the night, and he certainly intended on coming back, so there shouldn’t be much cause for concern. And yet…

 

*pong!*

 

The elevator doors slid open and Kurapika stepped out. The staircase to the balcony was right across from the elevator. He grabbed the door handle and hesitated to open it. Perhaps Gon left so abruptly because he wanted to be left alone. He’d probably just be bothering Gon in that case.

 

He must’ve stood at the door for at least five minutes considering if he should go through it. The last thing Kurapika wanted to be was a burden or inconvenience to his friends. It was better for them and so much easier if he kept a distance. That way, he couldn’t weigh them down with his troubles, and he…

 

He let out a sigh. He cleared his mind of his convoluted thoughts and pushed the door open and started walking forward, letting no other dialogue stop him.

 

It certainly would have been easier to stay in bed. It would have been easier to turn around. It would have been easier to say to Gon ‘no means no’ and simply left before the evening even began. What kind of lousy friend was he if he just kept taking what he thought was the easy route? He didn’t have to do that anymore. He didn’t have to push people away anymore. This was the future he wanted, where he can openly enjoy time with friends without the fear that they’d one day be torn away. He’d be a fool to waste it by falling back into old habits.

 

The cityscape twinkled around him as he reached the top of the stair case. All of the lights on the roof were off, leaving only the moon and the ambience of the street lights the only source of illumination. Kurapika squinted, trying to see if he could make out a person in the silhouettes in the balcony, between chairs and tables and closed umbrellas. That’s when he spotted him, the boy with the distinctively shaped hair, leaning against the railing, staring out at the streets below.

 

“Kurapika?” Gon turned around before Kurapika could even greet him himself. “W… what are you doing up here?”

 

“I… suppose I could ask you the same thing.” Right, he remembered, Gon’s insanely sharp sense of smell must have tipped him off. He slowly approached Gon and leaned on the railing with him. “But to answer you… I came up here because I saw you coming here.”

 

“Oh.” Gon replied quietly. He looked back over the edge silently. Few cars were passing in the street at this hour, and there weren’t any people on the sidewalk. There was hardly anything to be watching at all.

 

“Is everything alright? You seem… pensive.” Gon glanced at Kurapika, who hadn’t taken his eyes off the younger boy. “You don’t have to tell me… but if something is the matter, I would be happy to help you.”

 

“Uhm… it nothing. Well. Nothing that can be helped I guess,” Gon muttered airily. He drooped his arms over the railing, letting out a sigh. “I was just thinking about… how it’s going to be a long time before we get to do something like this again.”

 

Kurapika responded with a melancholic smile.

 

“…or if anyone is really going to want to.”

 

He knitted his eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t we want to?”

 

“Kurapika, I… I’m sorry,” Gon didn’t look at him as he said this. “I forced you into staying today even when you said you had more important things to do. I just wanted to spend time with you again b-but… I’m sorry, I wasted your time.”

 

The apology caught him off guard. He froze when Gon looked back at him with a tear in the corner of his eye.

 

“Next time I do something like this, I won’t force you to stay, I promise. You can go if you want. You can even leave now I just…” he sniffled. “I-I missed you so much.”

 

That’s when the realization hit him. Gon didn’t really get to see much of his friends anymore. Not just Kurapika who kept himself purposefully distanced, but he didn’t get to spend much time with Leorio or Killua either. Leorio was still busy with his studies. Killua was still traveling with his sister while avoiding his family. Gon likely hasn’t gone on any hunts himself lately because he still couldn’t use his Nen, so he didn’t even get to spend much time with colleague level friends either, probably only seeing them for short times before leaving since he may be considered more a liability than an asset now.

 

He was a fool not to think of Gon’s situation sooner.

 

“Gon…” Kurapika reached out and gently placed a palm on the boy’s shoulder. “You’re right. Next time, don’t bother forcing me to stay…” There was a beat of silence between them before Kurapika tugged Gon into a hug. “Because next time… I’ll be hosting the get-together.”

 

Gon gasped and backed up, looking at Kurapika with wide eyes. “H… huh?”

 

“It wouldn’t be fair to make you do the work every time. I think we should all be taking turns making the plans, don’t you think?” Gon’s confused expression slowly changed to one of grateful excitement the more Kurapika said. “I think it would do us a world of good if we made this a monthly thing. What do you say, Gon?”

 

Finally, Gon was wearing that trademark toothy grin of his. He lunged in to hug Kurapika again, squeezing him tight and twirling him around a few turns. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!!”

 

Kurapika laughed as he got swung around by Gon. “Alright, put me down, Gon! C’mon!” With his feet back on the ground and his eyes refocusing after the dizziness, he stumbled and leaned his back against the railing. “Before we can start talking about next time though…” he slowly picked up his hand a ruffled it through Gon’s hair affectionately. “I think we really need to get some sleep.”

 

The time on the clock was 3:24 AM when a pillow was hurled at Kurapika’s face as he and Gon reentered the hotel room. The force at which it was thrown was enough to give a normal person a concussion, but he caught it with ease, one handedly, and lowered it so he could see who did it.

 

Peeking over the edge of the bed on the other side of the room, he could see the back of Alluka’s head and Killua, who wasn’t hiding, but instead ready to chuck another pillow at the two.

 

He tossed it, but Kurapika was ready this time and deflected the pillow with the one he was already holding. The soft projectile hurdles to the right and struck a sleeping Leorio right in the face, who then sat up with a start.

 

He quickly got a grasp of the situation and grabbed two of the pillows that were on his bed, ready to smite his friends with cotton and memory foam.

 

This was a mistake on Leorio’s part. It was soon apparent that Gon and Kurapika were not on his team against Alluka and Killua, and was instead, a third party on his own, at the mercy of the others.

 

The spontaneous pillow fight eventually died down into just stacking things on top of Leorio instead of throwing things at him. He didn’t have the energy to fight back anymore and slept as they put every piece of bedding in the room on top of him, as well as every pillow and whatever extras were stored in the top shelf of the closet. As soon as everything was in place, Gon leapt onto the pile to see if the impact would wake the older man. To the group’s delight, Leorio continued to snooze away, even with four comforters, eight pillows, two blankets, and one Gon on top of him.

 

It was the time of the night where nobody needed a reason for why they were doing anything. They were sleepy, loopy, but not tired enough to go to bed just yet.

 

It was 5:22 AM when they noticed the sun was rising and they should probably try to get some rest at the very least. They reclaimed their beddings from the pile on Leorio, said their good nights, and did their best to stay still and quiet.

 

—

 

The time was 11:00 AM when the alarm on Leorio’s phone went off. He yawned and sat up sluggishly, tapping the screen to turn the alarm off. He looked to his side to see Kurapika, still deep in sleep, arms reaching out towards him.

 

“Hey…” he shook his sleeping friend’s shoulder gently. “Hey Kurapika. It’s 11 AM. Didn’t you wanna get up now?”

 

Kurapika’s hand travelled upwards until planting flat on Leorio’s face. “Mmmmnno. Just a… little longer.” He mumbled before his arm fell limp again.

 

Leorio smiled with a sort of warmth that felt like morning sunlight. Kurapika couldn’t see it, but there was a gratitude in that smile, thankful that on his own, Kurapika decided to spend even a few minutes more in the company of people who loved him.

 

Leorio laid back down, pulling the blanket over himself and Kurapika. He stroked the back of his hand on his slumbering friend’s cheek. “Sure thing… you’re the boss.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it!
> 
> In the last thing I wrote, I mentioned that I wanted most of my fics to be connected to each other in some way, but this was intended to be a one shot set post-canon to HxH.
> 
> The one theme in here that may reoccur in my other fics, though is Gon’s inability to use Nen and how it may have affected his relationship with others. I think a lot about how Ging told Gon just to live as a normal kid for now, but I wondered if that meant sacrificing the time and adventures he could have with his friends? Hm.
> 
> Well. I digress. Hope it was a good read.


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